Aladdin (2019) review – Mr S’s take
Aladdin opens with children in a boat on open water and after that the movie carries forward the nostalgia that was associated with the old classic of 1992. But without Robin Williams, or the near-infinite flexibility of hand-drawn animation, the challenge becomes how to translate such elastic characters to the world of flesh-and-blood actors. This Aladdin review is brought to you by AboutFlick’s Mr S.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Review: Disney took a huge risk bringing in Guy Ritchie to direct his first musical. The director who is famous for his British gangster comedies, two Sherlock Holmes flicks and an awful King Arthur movie doesn’t disappoint but why Disney insisted on him being a co-producer is still a mystery. Ritche retains most of the elements of the old classic and the ensemble of a racially diverse cast brings the movie closer to its roots.
Disney’s animated film from 1992 had awesome animation, and voice work, and the scores from the original movie are still etched in my memory. But above all the original classic had Robin Williams who almost singlehandedly provided both humour and intensity.
Will smith tries hard to fill in the large shoes of Robin Williams but fails to barely develop a character. He is occasionally entertaining as the CGI aided apparition and even as himself.
Marwan Kenzari as the evil Jafar who plots to steal Agrabah from Jasmine’s father has more entertaining moments than Will smith. Even the computer generated animals are great in performing their bits. Abu, the monkey, Iago, the parrot and Raja, the tiger reminds us of the old cartoon animals whom we are so familiar with.
The debutants Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott are the real treasures of the movie. Mena Massoud is in great form as Aladdin, the pickpocket and thief who passes himself off as a high-born prince with the genie’s help. But we are so glad that Jasmine is given so much screen time and Naomi Scott utilizes the entire time to entertain us the best she can. And trust me, her best is enough to even surpass Linda Larkin’s voice performance in the original 1992 flick.
My main gripe with this two hours long movie was the musical numbers which were so poorly executed that even some Bollywood dance sequences are far better than them.
Rating: My rating for this movie is 3.5 out if 5. The extra .5 is for making us reliving our childhood and reminding us of how wonderful our childhood was with Robin Williams as genie.
Who should watch this:If you like this movie, you should actually check out the original classic of 1992 and other Disney classics like the lion king, the little mermaid, beauty and the beast and the jungle book.